Heroes' Plight
by rekkanotara
Summary: Rowen and Sage are being driven mad by evil forces. Will they end up as crazed lunatics or will the others figure out what's going on before it's too late?
1. A Rough Night

Disclaimer: I don't own the Ronin Warriors or Yoroiden Samurai Troopers. If I did, I'd be the happiest damned computer/anime geek out there now wouldn't I?. They belong to Sunrise Inc., etc. etc. I am not making any money off of this so please don't sue me. I am a broke college student and besides, you'd never find me in Teeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnaaaaaaa hehehe. Oops, I shouldn't have told you that. I am just using these characters for a pure love of the series and artistic creativity.

Summary: The evil sorcerer Avalon wishes to see anyone that fights for good brought down. Now he's got his sights on Rowen and Sage. Can the Ronin Warriors figure out what's going on before Avalon has his way and Rowen and Sage are sent to a mental institution?

Heroes' Plight

By Rekkanotara

Chapter One: A Rough Night

Velvety blue hair blew across his face, sweeping over his tired eyes. Rowen hugged himself tighter as yet another breeze caused him to shiver. The weird thing about it was that he didn't even think it was supposed to be this cold in the middle of June. Of course he was out at 3am in the night with nothing but his thin constellation flannel pajamas on. As he stood out on the balcony of his and Sage's room, he allowed himself to relax as his low blood sugar problem was preventing him from falling asleep again and causing him to shake uncontrollably. None of the other ronins knew with the exception of his roommate and best friend Sage, that his health problems were increasing in severity for about a month now. But one only needed a keen eye to see that his skin was a tad lighter than it had been and that he hadn't eaten much at any of their meals. The ronin of Strata had been through several rough spells like this as a child and refused to allow any of the others to worry about him. He couldn't bear it if he knew that he was the reason of someone else's pain; whether it be due to worry or something else. He came out onto the balcony in the first place to keep from waking Sage up and to gain strength from the moon and the stars. Leaning against the railing with his eyes closed and head tilted up to the sky, Rowen could feel the light of the moon and the stars starting to warm him some and calm his trembling form.

Rowen just wanted to forget the pain and began to think of the more amusing events that occurred earlier in the week. Mia had come up to each of the ronins wanting to be trained to fight as she and Yule were always being used against them and backed into a rock and a hard place at one point or another. Luckily, Yule was off at Summer camp and couldn't bother them. Strata didn't think he could deal with the kid in the condition he was in now. Besides, the others were more patient with kids and other people than he was; he was a book worm and kept to himself a lot. First Mia had come up to Cye feeling as though he would be more understanding of her situation. Which he was; the auburn haired warrior of torrent had taken her out to the lake to start her training. Neither Mia nor Cye had spoken about what happened at the lake that afternoon, but Rowen couldn't help but smile as both of them came back to the Koji mansion soaking wet. Albeit only Cye's hair was wet whereas Mia's entire outfit and hair were soaked. Determined, Mia decided that Kento would be the next logical one to ask. So the next day, Kento took her into one of his lopsided bear hugs as he semi dragged/carried her into the kitchen. The warrior of hardrock had convinced Mia that one of the basic things to learn before you start with anything else is to build up your strength through eating and weight lifting for nutrients and muscles. The only incident that had occurred that day was the pure terrified screams the boys heard coming from Mia's room that night. They feared the worst as they headed to her room, but upon arriving in the master bedroom, they found Mia on the scale with tears in her eyes as she had gained ten pounds from her session with Kento. There wasn't a dry eye in the house after that moment as everyone had warned Mia that once you're in Kento's company, it's hard to think that eating anything could make you gain any unwanted weight. Kento, of course, didn't show it because he wore the armor of hardrock which corresponded to the earth and food which naturally grows from the earth, making him stronger every time he eats. 

The blue haired archer had to give the woman credit for not giving up so easily even though she probably should've. Rowen and the other ronin warriors had trained since early childhood and each of them had magical abilities which is why the armors of wildfire, torrent, strata, hardrock, and halo had chosen them out of all the people in the world to wear them. On what would be the third day of trying, Mia asked Ryo to teach her how to use a sword. Being a little naïve at the time, Ryo thought it would be a good idea not to try and coddle her and let her practice with one of his spare katana. Whiteblaze was also around as he never left Ryo's side for too long if at all. Mia had thought it would be a great idea to show off the moves she thought she knew from watching all those samurai movies with the guys and came so close to giving Whiteblaze a permanent sex change. To this day, the large white tiger still wont go near her when she had anything in her hands. He could take on over a dozen Dynasty soldiers with their own deadly weapons, but something about Mia scared the tiger. After that incident, Ryo had immediately grabbed the sword from her possession and scolded her for her reckless actions. Depressed but still not down, Mia thought she could use some focus and centering so she followed Sage off to one of his many beautiful meditation spots in the forest around the mansion. After hearing what had happened with the ronin of wildfire earlier in the day, Sage also believed that meditation would do her some good. Everything had gone off without a hitch, then after about an hour into the meditation, Sage was interrupted from his calm and serene mood by the sounds of snoring coming from his companion leaning on a nearby tree. "Mia! You're supposed to be finding your center and not sleeping around!!" Sage yelled as he discovered her. The warrior of halo was indeed patient, but one thing you don't want to do is make light or disrespect his training methods as he came from a strict yet fair dojo and the very respected Date family. Luckily, several people had scattered memories of the events which occurred with Tulpa and the boys' families all agreed that it would be better if the team did not break up and were stronger together than divided. Rowen was the only one of the five to stay clear of the close friend who had helped them out so much during the war with Tulpa because he knew full well that nothing good could come from giving Mia or any other inexperienced person for that matter a bow and arrow to practice with.

Rowen was suddenly jolted from his musings as he felt a steady warm hand on his shoulder. "Couldn't sleep?" Sage asked as he walked out onto the balcony with the other boy. "Something like that." Rowen replied, feeling himself sway a little. "How long have you been out here Rowen? You're shivering. Not to mention that you look dead tired." Sage queried, upset to find his best friend out in the middle of the night trembling. What upset him the most was that it was 77 degrees out and even in his white t-shirt and gray cotton shorts, he was sweating. But Rowen seemed to be in a world of his own and a cold one at that. Sage then proceeded to usher his friend into their room and lock the balcony door behind them. Moving Rowen over to his bed, Sage began to ask, "Is your low blood sugar giving you problems still? You're going to have to see a doctor or at least tell the rest of the guys." Rowen knew this was important to Sage, keeping his health problems secret were starting to take their toll on him. But he didn't want to be pitied or held with kid gloves; throughout the entire fight with Tulpa and even into his childhood, he had to try and prove he was strong to fight and didn't need anyone's help to kick some major butt. He could still remember what Ryo had told him what Kento had said when he was still floating in his little bubble up in space. Kento had said that they didn't need him to defeat Tulpa; that they could probably go on without the warrior of the heavens, or something to that effect. Rowen had pretended that it didn't bother him at all, but he had just pushed it deep into his emotional psyche with everything else, bringing him that much more closer to breaking whether he liked it or not. "Rowen? Hello...." Sage said waving his hand in front of the archer; he had become concerned when Rowen seemed to stare off into nothing in particular and left his concerns unanswered. Becoming aware of his surroundings again, Rowen blinked and looked over at the swordsman at the side of his bed. "I'm alright Sage. Please don't worry, I've dealt with this all my life. The others don't need to know and at any rate, I'm not ready to tell them much of anything right now." Rowen replied stifling a yawn as it escaped his mouth. Sage sighed and walked over to his own bed where he proceeded to lay back down. Before he knew it, Rowen seemed to be sleeping, snuggled under his fluffy blankets. Sage smiled at the sight before him; Rowen seemed so calm and relaxed at which point he decided to try and get more sleep himself.

....A few seconds later....

"Sage?" came Rowen's muffled voice. "Yeah Ro?" Sage replied with a tone that sounded as equally tired. "Where did you put my Centurion?" Rowen questioned. "He's under your pillow." Sage replied again as he began to chuckle to himself. Ever since he first watched the cartoon, The Centurions, Rowen had taken a liking to the blue centurion of the sky, Ace McCloud for obvious reasons as they both wore blue suits of armor sort of and fought the bad guys. He had given Rowen the toy for Christmas a couple of years ago and now he never seemed to sleep without it nearby. Sage on the other hand didn't care too much for the show; he couldn't see why a guy who fought in the water would wear green and why there was no centurion of light, he had been a little peeved when Rowen tried to compare him slightly to one of the other characters (i.e., John Thunder). He was about to fall asleep when he heard Rowen again. "And Sage?...." Rowen whispered. "Yes Rowen?" Sage answered through a yawn. "I know you were sleeping and all and lying in your bed, but....." Rowen said. Wanting desperately to get back to sleep, Sage replied a little curious as to where this was leading, "Yes? But what?" Rowen muttered under his blankets clearly falling asleep now; "How come your hair is still perfect?....." Sage merely replied, "It takes focus and dedication." _That and a half a bottle of hair gel each day_ he thought to himself as he drifted to sleep to join the rest of the ronins in the mansion in the land of sleep along with Mia and Whiteblaze. Little did they know that Rowen of the Strata and Sage of the Halo were being watched by an evil sorcerer named Avalon.

**** 

Ok Ok, I actually typed a whole chapter albeit a small one (Yippeee). I am leaving it at this point so that I can see how all of you like the story or don't. I don't care if I get flames; it's a part of creative writing and I'm not a freakin English major, I just wanted to tell my story so yes there will be some grammatical errors. I did however use the spell checker. Yes this is my very first fanfic. Posted at all, I usually scribble em down for Stargate SG-1 and leave them on paper as I am so lazy. I had to start my story as I've read all of the other fics for Ronin Warriors by all the other gifted fanfic writers. Now I leave it to you the reader to tell me if I should continue with this story. Please review and thank you for your interest in my story:)


	2. Alone At Last

**Disclaimer**: I do not own the Ronin Warriors/Yoroiden Samurai Troopers and never have ***sigh*** If I did I never would have stopped the series. Oh well, what is a person to do...The fine people at Sunrise Inc., Graz Entertainment, and Bandai have the rights to them if I'm reading the back of my dvd correctly. Please don't sue this lowly fanfic writer as I only have one measly peanut in my pocket and his name is Mel. I'll be damned if I'm gonna give Mel up... "Run Mel Run! Be Free!" -Throws said peanut out into the elements only to have a bird pick it up--- "Mel....Noooo! Now you see? I have nothing now...Don't mind my sulking, just enjoy the story."

**Heroes' Plight **

**Chapter Two:**

The next morning was uneventful. Cye was in the kitchen with Mia fixing up a large breakfast for the rest of the guys. Kento was just sitting at the kitchen table staring at all the ingredients as they were mixed into the pans on the stove. Cye couldn't stifle a laugh as he noticed Kento had stuffed a napkin into his mouth to try and fill the void that was his mouth until the food was finished.

Ryo had taken off to take care of his swords. Ever since they broke a while due to his fight with Saranbo, Ryo had been taking extra care to polish, sharpen, and clean them; not necessarily in that order; Whiteblaze quietly standing guard for anything at his side.

Sage was busy in the woods next to the house in a quiet little clearing where he could focus on his meditating. Rowen on the other hand was sitting on a tree branch close by starring up at the clouds. He was actually feeling a bit better today as he felt like he was over the bad part of another low blood sugar attack on his body. Rowen hated having to carry around something sweet to eat all the time just in case he started to feel sick at all. Especially when the only candy available at the local store was always stale; so he'd eventually end up giving the stuff to Kento who would take it without hesitation.

This however, had earned him annoyed glares from Sage and the rest of the guys. Though there was an upside to his actions; after enough free candy, Kento had begun following the archer around willing to do anything he asked for more. Rowen cringed at the thought of eating the stale implements and wondered how Kento could stomach it all.

It was a beautiful day, fluffy white clouds hung low in the clear blue sky as though they were being held up with fishing twine. The sun hid slightly behind a couple of the poofier clouds in the distance. All the ronins had planned today was to relax and Rowen was gonna make sure he enjoyed himself today to make up for missing out on so much the past couple of weeks due to his health problems. 

Off in some distant strong hold, Avalon had been watching the young warriors with some interest through a small indoor pond near his throne that allowed him to see anyone or anything he chose to. 

"Master, is it time yet to go after the ronin warriors?" questioned a muscular but not too bright henchman had appeared hunching besides the sorcerer.

Avalon looked over to his minion and replied, "Not yet Jabu. I want to give them one last taste of normality before I turn their world upside down."

The somewhat tall man only seemed to be more confused by his masters actions. Turning to his master, Jabu asked, "My lord, why Strata and Halo? Why do we not attack them all at once?"

Avalon seemed to be getting pretty annoyed with Jabu as he thought that any simpleton would understand his plans for the ronins. The sorcerer's mouth twisted into a smug lopsided grin as he began to laugh. "My poor simple Jabu. You are one of my most faithful servants but not one of the brightest. All of those idiots that came before me like Talpa, Dala, and Saranbo have all but succumbed to the same stupid mistakes. You see, they all charged head on basically attacking all the ronins at the same time. And when they did get one or two of them alone, it wasn't long before the others would surely come and rescue them."

Jabu began to understand what his master had in store for the ronins. He chided in cutting off the sorcerer's ranting, "I see master. So by taking out Rowen of the Strata and Sage of the Halo, you expect the others to fall along with their comrades..."

Avalon simply shot a wave of electricity through his magical staff at his servant for interrupting him and replied, "Yes Jabu, indeed. Rowen is the brains of the group and must be taken care of because he could easily discover what I'm up to and my plans would surely come to a dangerous end. Luckily, through my intricate planning, I have managed to allow him to make himself sick and therefore weak. These humans are so very simple. And of course, Sage has the ability to heal and is also very intuitive. He may yet sense my presence in their realm and try to stop me. I cannot allow him to be allowed to walk free to help his friends after I've gone to so much trouble. Now Jabu, leave me. I must observe the fools a little longer to make sure I can accomplish my task without a hitch."

Jabu merely bowed and teleported away.

Meanwhile at the ronin household, Cye and Mia were already adding the final spices to their concoction. Kento was now drooling uncontrollably having inadvertently gagged on his napkin. In his right hand, he held a fork and a spoon in the other hand; it was at this very moment that he began to bang the utensils on the table chanting, "Food food, yummy food..."

Cye and Mia exchanged amused glances at the warrior of hardrock because they knew this was his daily routine. Mia took a large heaping load of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, and pancakes and mixed them all together for Kento to devour which he did within a matter of minutes after Mia had placed the plate down in front of him.

Mia shook her head in awe at him and began to turn her head to face the other ronin in the kitchen with her. With her most patient voice, Mia asked the warrior of the water, "Cye, could you call the others to eat through the mystical link you all share? I have to leave soon to meet with my publisher to go over our book deal. I should be gone for about a week or so depending on what he wants to go over."

Cye nodded and proceeded to alert the others that it was time for breakfast and that they should get to the house fast before Kento ate a hole right through the table. He then came to sit across from Mia at the kitchen table and stared at the woman with a bit of respect for accomplishing so much after losing her grandfather to the Dynasty and having her life put in peril many times; not to mention having to look after Yule the whole time they were running for their lives. Taking a deep breath, Cye began to talk to the only other person in the room that didn't have anything in their mouths, "Mia...I still can't believe that anyone is interested in publishing our story even if you told them it was a work of fiction."

Mia stared back in slight shock. "Don't sell yourself short Cye. You guys fought hard and bravely and there are still some people who remember what happened with Talpa and the Dynasty. It would do some good to have a written account of what actually happened while they were trapped in that dimension and you guys were left to fight for them. Besides, I'm betting that there are enough people that do remember and will buy the book giving us a pretty hefty dent in the bank to live off of for quite a while." replied the young owner of the mansion they all lived in. 

Suddenly, as if on cue; Sage, Ryo, Whiteblaze, and Rowen entered the back door near the kitchen enthralled in a big debate over whether or not aliens were real or not. Sage was arguing Ryo against the idea of their being life out in space. Rowen just stayed back allowing the two to continue on with their conversation. He knew that if he came within view of the two bickering boys that they would surely drag him into the debate. Mia had already set out plates for the rest of the ronins and was already cleaning off the table where she had previously eaten at. She then began to gather all her paper work and head out the door. As she left, she yelled back to the guys, "Bye guys! I'll tell you how it all turns out when I get back. Don't make too much of a mess!"

All five of the ronins yelled back in unison, "Bye Mia! Bring us back a souvenir!" 

As they all heard the door click behind her, Kento lightly slammed his hands on the table causing all the plates to jump a little and inhaled. Exhaling, he moaned, "Man, I thought she'd never leave."

Ryo nodded in agreement, "I know what you mean buddy. It's good to have the house all to ourselves for a change."

Looking around with a mischievous grin, Kento jumped away from the table and said, "That's right. It's time for Monkey Madness: Revenge of the Rabid Banana." With that done, Kento rushed into the living room to play his video game. Ryo followed him amused at his friend's actions.

Ryo yelled after Kento in the next room so he could hear, "I get to play after you!" as he took off to join his friend in the living room. Before he exited through the door separating the two rooms, Ryo looked over at Cye, Sage, and Rowen who were cleaning up the table of its plates and crumbs, etc. He knew he had gotten away with not having to clean the table and smiled to himself. "You to gonna be alright by yourselves while I beat Kento's high score?" Ryo asked.

Rowen was gathering the cleaning utensils and Cye was trapping Sage in his cleaning apron refusing to let the blonde get away again without doing the washing again just because he didn't want to get his hands all soapy.

The last thing Ryo saw before entering the living room was Sage in a light blue apron and bright pink dish washing gloves. Obviously Mia's gloves he thought to no one in particular and relishing in the image of Sage that would stay in his head for a long time.

Ok, here is another chapter... I was having a hard time thinking about how I was going to fill another chapter. I had been rereading my first chapter and why didn't anyone tell me it was that awful...Maybe I could put some of the blame on my keyboard. Don't you just hate keys that stick and are hard to push? I can really draw things out for a long time eh? I probably could've written stories for Dragon Ball Z (ok bad joke)... I promise that there will be some action in the next chapter. And thanks to all of you who reviewed. It really makes a newcomer feel welcomed.

Bunch-O-Nuts: Thanks for the tip. I've tried to incorporate it into my story so I hope it's not as confusing.

Harry2: I know :) There's just so much of Mia that I can stand.

Soon to be world renown Gracie: Rowen's my favorite too. I have to admit, I have been drooling over his yaoi fics a little too much, but it's hard to find any other type of story. (ok too much information on my part).

JillyBean3: Wow, I'm glad you enjoy my story. I shall endeavor to make it not suck.


	3. Pink Elephants

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Ronin Warriors/Yoroiden Samurai Troopers. Can't make it much more simpler than that can I? Sunrise and Graz own em and whoever else I can't think of right now.

**Author's Note:** Sorry for the long update, I've gotten way too caught up in writing Saint Seiya/Humor fics, is it just me or does anyone else have problems finding places to put everyone when there are just so many main characters in a series? Aside from that, I've been spiraling down into another cycle of depression. I really don't know why, or maybe I do, I just feel worthless right now and like everything is passing me by. You know what sucks is being a psych major and actually understanding my depression... Heck I even feel horrible for having writer's block for this story. Maybe I'll feel better after I finish this chapter.

Also, I am desperately trying not to make this into a yaoi or shounen ai story. However, you may have to forgive any slip ups as those are the only kind of stories I've been able to read or find lately for the different series I'm reading. Not that there's anything wrong with those types of stories, I just didn't want to go that way with this one. Thanks to all who reviewed last time and endured the horrible blocky paragraphing format I did in the previous chapters; I am working on spacing everything out so don't worry too much. So as always, please read and review.

**Heroe's Plight**

**By Rekkanotara**

Staring at the adolescent boys through his viewer, Avalon felt a slight psychotic laugh escape his throat. He was angry and amused at the same time. Angry that such young warriors posed any sort of threat to such a powerful sorcerer as himself and amused that they could be so simple at times. He would've at least expected the mighty ronins, whom he had heard so much about, to train more and take things more seriously.

Little did he know, not taking things too seriously was one of the ways the young warriors had learned to cope with the frightening atrocities they had seen and experienced since becoming ronin warriors.

Jabu stared at his master out of the corner of his eyes with concern. His master never laughed so much and when he did, it could only mean that his rage and power could be directed at anyone, whether they be friend or foe.

-_Back at the mansion_-

All the dishes had long since been dried and put away; Kento was asleep on the couch and Ryo was glued to the television still poised to break Kento's high score on their video game.

Rowen was outside in a nearby tree reading yet another educational textbook about the solar system waiting for the sun to set.

Cye was busy trying to teach White Blaze the importance of using a door mat before entering the house with muddy feet. However, all he got for his efforts was a kitchen spotted with brown paw prints and an annoyed looking tiger in the hall next to the stairs curling up to sleep as if he hadn't done anything wrong at all.

Sage was meditating a little ways away from Rowen's spot in the trees. The blonde had found a nice quiet spot on a large boulder next to a small pond. He had found this area by accident while running away from Mia who was trying to get him to be her date for some business ball of sorts. Not that he really had anything against Mia; he just didn't enjoy the stuffy people that attended those functions or the idea of having to comb his hair back so that it wasn't so wild.

Finally achieving his goal of ultimate cleanliness, Cye smiled as he had finished cleaning the mess left by one sleeping white tiger. He couldn't help but laugh as he had actually gotten the surfaces in the kitchen to shine. '_Now... What to do about that bloody tiger._' he thought to himself as he sat down at the kitchen table for a much needed break. Staring off into space; he soon found it hard to stay awake and eventually fell asleep, leaving his head which was propped up with his hand, to fall on his other arm which laid on the table.

-_Bad Guy Lair_-

Jabu was startled from his thoughts by his master's sudden shout...

"Jabu! Come! It is time..." came Avalon's shouts.

"Yes my lord." Jabu replied following alongside the evil sorcerer as he was led into another room containing several viles of various potions and poisons of all colors of the rainbow. He watched somewhat interested in his master's movements as the man picked up three different bottles and began to mix the contents together within a stone bowl nearby.

One of the bottles had an opaque navy blue liquid within it. Another had a thick forest green gel inside of it. And the third container held a sparkly, silver powder within it. Jabu couldn't help but think of how close the said powder came to looking like actual stardust. Knowing his master as well as he did, the glittery substance could very well be stardust...

Suddenly, a large purple cloud began to fill the small room, but was immediately sucked back into the mixture which had produced it. Jabu cringed a slightly as he felt cold on the outside and burning hot on the inside of his body. He was just glad that his exposure to that weird smokey cloud wasn't long enough to do any real damage.

Avalon couldn't help but see his servant's reaction to his concoction and laughed slightly as he tilted his head back and inhaled the deep aroma of the mixture which could only be described as rotting flesh; no matter how lived the scent was for Avalon knew that when this particular potion gained that smell, he had mixed correctly and since the smell only lasted for a minute or so, he could continue with his plans against the ronins.

Getting annoyed that Jabu still seemed in a little daze, Avalon took a handful of his servant's short black hair and pulled him closer to the stone bowl.

Stumbling against the pedistool that held up the stone bowl, Jabu winced in pain as this earned him sharp kick to his leg as Avalon yelled angrily, "Be careful you idiot or I will send you to the shadows and teach you the what real nightmares are all about! Now pay attention! This is what I want you to do with this potion for those two worthless ronins...."

Jabu didn't feel like inadvertently making his master mad again, so he just stayed as still and quiet as he could listening carefully to his master's wishes and plans...

-_Back to the good guys_-

Opening one of his azure eyes, Sage noticed the sun had gone down to signal that he should be heading back home and began to head back to the house. Out of reflex, the warrior of light whisked a hand through his golden blonde locks as he watched the leaves along with some white flower petals flying off of some nearby trees onto the path he was walking. It wasn't too long before he reached a semi large oak tree which unbeknownst to him was being inhabited by the ronin of the skies.

Rowen hadn't realized he was so tired until he heard a small yelp from the path below him, causing his eyes to shoot open and scan the surrounding area with intrigue. It seems that the warrior of strata had fallen asleep and allowed his book to fall from his hands onto the head of a familiar person.

"Sage!... Umm, sorry 'bout that... Guess I got a little carried away with my reading." Rowen yelled down at Sage apologetically.

"Geez, you think!?! Great just great, I'm gonna have a nasty bruise now." Sage replied bitterly as he looked up at the spot where his blue haired friend was perched.

"I said I was sorry..." Rowen countered.

"Yeah yeah yeah, anyways; it's getting late. Come down from there and we can head back together." Sage ordered crossing his arms awaiting a response from his friend and fellow ronin.

Rowen yelled down to Sage one last time, "Hold on, I'm coming..." Moving into position, Rowen placed the palm of his hand against the trunk of the tree where his back had been in an effort to get a better footing so that he could jump down with ease. Little did he know, a strange purple liquid had materialized on the tree where he had put his hand, which caused his hand to come into full contact with the liquid. His hand slipped off the tree, causing him to fall backwards off of the branch he was on and straight onto the ground below.

Sage was surprised when he heard a slight scream and before he knew it, Rowen was on the ground next to him. He couldn't help but laugh, "Wow, you really must be tired or really out of practice if you can't even use your flying powers correctly."

"Ha ha.... I slipped okay..." Rowen replied as he got up to dust himself off and stretch the kinks out of his aching back.

Extending a hand, Sage began to help Rowen steady himself. Suddenly, he caught sight of his friend's hand which incidentally was the one he was holding; the said hand had a strange wet feel to it and an even stranger purple color on the palm side.

Sage shut his eyes and shook his head slightly and reopened his eyes to look again at the substance that they were both touching, however, by the time he looked again, the color had disappeared as well as the substance itself as it had already been absorbed into its two targets.

Rubbing his eyes with his free hand, Sage yawned as he spoke up, "I guess I'm more tired than I thought, I'm starting to see things."

Picking up his book with both hands, Rowen agreed, "Yeah, I know what you mean. But at least we don't have to walk back in the dark with all this light."

Sage began walking alongside Rowen as he listened. Silently, he agreed thinking that Rowen was just talking about the light of the full moon, little did he know, Rowen was now seeing dozens of fireflies all lighted up in a yellowish green brilliance of color.

As they entered the house, they were greeted with complete silence. It had taken them some time to get back home and now it was too late for any normal person to be awake.

Checking on the others, Sage left Rowen in their bedroom to get ready for bed.

Opening the door to Kento and Cye's room, the boy was assaulted with the loud snores of one ronin of hardrock. He couldn't quite understand how Cye could stand the noise himself; that is until he saw the water ronin asleep with several small throw pillows pushing against his ears saving the Brunette from the horrendous sound coming from Kento's side of the room.

Next, Sage checked on Ryo and White Blaze. Peeking through the doorway, Sage wished he had a camera handy as it was one of the rare times when he caught White Blaze on his back with his legs in the air twitching away. Ryo was sleeping soundly and all seemed to be okay, so Sage decided that it was time for him to get some sleep now.

Heading back to the room he shared with Rowen, Sage was beginning to feel the effects of the Avalon's potion. It was taking a little longer for him to feel the effects, because Rowen had gotten most of the stuff on him when he touched it on the tree earlier.

Feeling somewhat dizzy, Sage's vision began to fade in and out. He just assumed he was just really sleepy; he had no idea the pain that their enemy had in store for them. Stumbling into their room, Sage had managed to make it over to his own bed but didn't have the strength to do anything else and at that moment, he fell into a deep sleep filled with dreams of three foot tall clowns and pink elephants.

Rowen was just as bad off, he had fallen asleep as soon as he found his bed. His dreams weren't as amusing as Sage's though; his dreams were filled dark rooms and shadows that seemed to have incredibly razor sharp fangs. Add the tortured screams of four other familiar people and it was no surprise that the blue haired ronin was now drenched sweat and thrashing about on his bed.

**Author Note:** Yay, I finished another chapter. What do you all think? Am I at least doing a descent job of being angsty or should I just stick to the humor end of the spectrum which doesn't seem to wanna let me go.....? Waaahhh! I can't do any separations anymore in my fics, because of ff.net's new edit option. Oh well... Hope you liked the chapter and as always, please read and review.


	4. Author's Note

**Author Note: **Just to let everyone know; I unchecked the box so that all of you anonymous reviewers who ever dreamed of flaming my stories or wanted to leave a nice 'you're a nutcase' message can now do so. A BIG THANK YOU to Soon to be world renowned Gracie for telling me about this I had absolutely no idea I left it on. Also, I haven't forgotten about my stories.....really I haven't....please don't hurt me... I just had a nasty little trojan virus on my computer but now it's gone and I'm furiously working to update my stories.

Thanks Again ---- Rekkanotara


	5. Rude Awakenings

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Ronin Warriors/Yoroiden Samurai Troopers, but then you probably already knew that huh...

**Yet Another Author Note:** Yup I'm back and thanks to all who reviewed! I truly appreciate all the compliments, rants, and criticism. For those of you who didn't read the note I posted before this, I'll repeat for good measure: I had a damned trojan on my computer for the longest time and couldn't use it until recently. This virus attacked after I posted my other stories so we can all blame our lousy computers or for not being able to get all parts of the stories (Peaks through the blinds to find two rather large men in dark suits standing on the street corner....'nervous swallow'). I also made it so that anonymous reviewers can submit reviews... the oh so kind 'Soon to be World Renowned Gracie' pointed this out to me. And so I leave you to the story to read and review.

**Heroes' Plight (Part Four):**

**By Rekkanotara**

The next morning started off without a hitch. Cye was busy having a nice warm cup of tea thinking about nothing in general.

It was too early in the morning to be thinking of anything earth shattering so he found himself staring out the kitchen window at the clouds that blotted the otherwise blue sky.

At that moment, Kento stumbled into the kitchen looking somewhat depressed. This was one of those particular mornings in which Cye wasn't cooking. Which meant that he would have to cook his own breakfast.

It wasn't that he was an awful cook, far from it; he just loathed the effort it took to prepare everything... pan and all.

Cye knew all to well what the look on his friend's face meant and laughed inwardly. It still bugged the auburn haired boy to no end that everyone who knew them thought that he always did the cooking for the others. Letting out a slow sigh, the warrior of the water was shocked out of his thoughts by an overly happy looking Sage.

The blonde had strolled into the kitchen in what could only be characterized as skipping.... at least in Cye's mind and there was something else...

Then it hit him.... Sage was humming! Sage never showed so much emotion at least not to the point to where he'd be humming and skipping about.

Kento had noticed Sage's odd behavior as well and stopped Sage in the middle of his raid on one of the cabinets to ask the warrior of light the only thing he could think to ask, "Umm Sage...." Kento paused slightly...

Amused somewhat by his friend's action, Sage replied as chipper as ever, "Yes Kento?" as he cocked his head to the side.

Kento continued his question, "Did you meet a girl or are you just drunk?" Biting his bottom lip Kento waited nervously to see what the reply would be. He always seemed to incur the blonde's wrath as he always did whenever he'd ask the swordsman questions which hinted at him acting in a strange way.

Cye cringed a little; he knew that if Kento made Sage mad again that he would end up with several bruises and injured body parts that he never knew you could injure.

Seconds later, Sage's eyes grew wide as he started to laugh whole heartedly as though he'd heard the funniest joke in the world.

This unnerved Kento and Cye even more so as they exchanged glances with each other and at the teen standing before them.

Kento nearly jumped out of his skin when Sage's hand landed on his shoulder.

Sage continued to slap Kento's shoulder while trying to reply to his friend in between fits of laughter, "That's a good one Kento meister... Where do you come up with this stuff?"

Kento just looked back with a nervous smile and said, "T-thanks, b-but are you feeling alright Sage?"

Calming down a bit, Sage looked at the other two boys in the room and inhaled deeply and exhaled just as heartily as he replied, "Never better guys...."

Suddenly a shout was heard from upstairs, "Guys you better get up here now! Something's up with Rowen!" Ryo yelled down to whoever was still in the house. Loud thumping sounds and screams could now be heard at least now that they were paying attention to them.

Everyone bolted upstairs to see what the commotion was about. Upon arriving upstairs, they found a scraggly looking Rowen holding on to a wooden chair leg that had been broken off from a nearby desk chair. He had Ryo cornered in one of the empty bedrooms looking ready to strike the warrior of fire down if he dared to even move an inch.

Kento was the first to enter the room, next came Cye, and then Sage bounced into the room as though he didn't have a care in the world.

Cye was the first to speak up, "Ryo what the bloody hell is going on around here? First Sage is all loopy and now the two of you? Did I miss a memo?"

Ryo turned his head to face Cye with a look that said, 'I have a bit more pressing matter to take care of at the moment.' Pushing himself further up against the wall, Ryo tried to explain what was going on. "Look, all I did was come in to wake Rowen up because I had heard him wrestling in what appeared to be a nightmare and when he woke up, he started screaming hysterically. Next thing I know, he's up and about throwing things aside and breaking anything that's not bolted down. And last but not least, he seems to be angry with me for some reason and feels bent on bashing my head in." Ryo yelled back to the others becoming a bit angry himself at being attacked for no reason.

Cye gave Kento a seconds glance which was enough to tell warrior of the earth what to do. Slowly the two moved to either side of the blue haired boy in question and moved in ever so slightly to grab the distraught teen.

Cye moved to where Rowen could easily see him and began to speak to Rowen as Kento moved to a position where Rowen couldn't easily see what he was about to do.

Raising his hands in a calm manner Cye proceeded to try and get Rowen's attention and for the moment, it seemed to be working. "Hey Rowen.... Why don't we sit down and talk about this like civilized gents? I'll bet your hungry... am I right?" Cye stated in a motherly tone not wanting to result to physical violence but would subdue Rowen if the need called for it.

Rowen seemed to be relaxing a bit and let the wooden leg fall to the ground as he started to cry.

Kento took this moment to pounce as he jumped Rowen from behind and held the sobbing warrior in a strong bear hug.

Panicking, Rowen began to scream again, "Let me go you big jerk... Lemme go!!!" He tried to struggle free to no avail. Kento was just too strong. Finally he just gave up and began to sob even more letting himself fall to the floor bringing Kento along with him.

Cye looked on in amazement too stunned to say anything.

Kento loosened his grip some to allow Rowen some comfort as he sensed the worse was over for now.

Ryo pushed himself off the wall and made a motion to kick the wooden implement away when something or rather someone caught his eye.

There was Sage at the farthest end of the room, not moving, but staring on with tear filled eyes and sniffling every now and again looking like he was about to break down into a fit of tears as well.

Concerned with Sage's apparent emotional instability, Ryo walked up to Sage and placed an arm on his shoulder as he calmly addressed the other boy. "Sage.... Hey Sage.... You okay? What's got you all upset?" Ryo questioned.

Tears now flowing freely on his face, Sage gave an angry glare in Ryo's direction and shrugged his hand away from his shoulder as he made his way over to Rowen, pushing Kento aside with ease. He knelt down besides Rowen and began shouting at the other occupants of the room, "You big meanies! Can't you see my blue bunny is upset?!? And all you do is lie and try to hurt him...?!"

Both boys simply sat there embraced and crying.

Sage had been trying to soothe the other ronin by rubbing his back and speaking to him in a tone slightly above a whisper, "It's okay Rowen. I'm here, I wont let the bad people grab you again." As he finished with his reassurance, Sage looked in the directions of the other ronins and stuck out his tongue at them in a sort of childish defiance.

Trying to take control of the situation, Cye spoke to the two boys on the floor in as soft a voice as he could muster given his current state of heebijeebies. "Don't worry mate, no one will bother you again and you don't have to talk if you don't want to. I think what you need is a nice big yummy breakfast and you'll feel better after that. I'll get started on fixing you up something special with Ryo and Kento.... and Sage can stay up here with you. Does that sound okay Rowen?"

Sage seemed comfortable enough with Cye's presence, but Cye's presence alone would be tolerated around himself and his friend.

Rowen wiped away at the tears in his eyes with his hands as he looked up at Cye with a rather large sniffle he mumbled, "You bean id? Danks Cye." As though his recent outburst wasn't creepy enough, Rowen started to smile a childlike grin as he turned to Sage and perked up; "Did you hear that Sage?!? I'm gonna get nummy food and Cye's making it especially for me. And I'm gonna let you have some too." Rowen spoke up almost ecstatic now.

Sage also had a goofy grin on his face as he replied, "Yay yay, nummy yummy food. Made by the bestez cook in the world, Cye."

Cye was all but blushing at this compliment as the three sane ronins left the room.

Heading down the stairs, Kento rubbed the back of his head as he poked fun of Cye, "Geez I wonder who their favorite person is right now."

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Ryo glared at Kento, "That's enough Kento, this is neither the time or the place for jokes right now. I kinda learned fast the hard way that Rowen was a bit unstable, but what's up with Sage? And what do you suppose is going on with the two of them?"

Cye started fixing up a major breakfast while Kento filled Ryo in on what they had experienced with Sage a little while earlier...

"Are you serious?! Mr. Mature was actually humming?" Ryo swallowed again before continuing, "And he was skipping?"

Kento nodded solemnly, "Yeah, it was a pretty freaky experience dude."

"Do you guys think it was a good idea leaving those two upstairs all by themselves?" Ryo questioned.

Cye replied, "Well there's not much we can do for them until we know what's going on."

Ryo pounded his fists on the table he was sitting at in frustration, "Arggh! First things first. We need to know how long they've been acting like this and why they are acting like.... like...."

Kento continued Ryo's tirade, "Like raving loonies?"

Ryo sighed in defeat, "Exactly."

Finishing up the last bits of the meal, Cye took control of the situation as he ordered the two boys sitting before him, "Okay; Ryo, you and Kento check the forest for any signs of Dynasty activity or some sort of major chemical spill and I'll take care of Rowen and Sage until you guys get back."

Ryo looked up at torrent in agreement but with some confusion, "You think the Dynasty is involved in this?"

Cye replied, "I don't know, but we can't rule anything out and I know for a fact that those two were acting fine yesterday before we all did our separate things for the day. So whatever this...this thing is, it was sudden."

Kento also perked up joining the conversation, "But a chemical spill Cye? Isn't that a little far fetched?"

"No and we have to explore all the possibilities if we are to help those two." Cye retorted.

With a quick nod, Ryo and Kento headed out to check the woods near the mansion.

Getting ready for a mind numbing day, Cye yelled for the two unstable warriors to alert them to the food that was awaiting them, "Rowen! Sage! Your food's ready! Get it while it's hot!"

At that moment, a loud ruckus was heard on the stairs and finally, Sage and Rowen burst into the kitchen with a huff and began to sing the song they had come up with just minutes before...

"Yay yay! Nummy yummy food!...." Sage and Rowen sang as they began to stuff their faces with just about everything on the table.

Cye stopped Sage from nearly inhaling the flowers that had adorned the table which earned him a slight annoyed look from the blonde himself.

Cye just thought to himself, '_This is going to be a long... long day..... Oh bloody hell, Rowen's trying eat his napkin again..._'

xxxxxxx

Hope you liked the chapter :) I have to get started adding onto my other stories as well. Thanks all! Please read and review.


	6. What's Going On Here?

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Ronin Warriors/Yoroiden Samurai Troopers. That's all folks!

**A/N:** I really have to apologize to those of you who had been following this story. I'm sooo sorry for not updating; I've been under tremendous stress with college work and all. Good news is that I have another semester to go before I graduate. Yay me! I'm really trying to make a conscious effort to write longer chapters and to eliminate my horrible grammatical errors, but until I get really good, you'all have to bare with me, K? And so, hope you enjoy the chapter and please review.

**Heroes' Plight** **(Part Five):**

The auburn haired boy was already showing his fatigue as he raised a hand to rub his face. He had been so tired from watching his two normally calm and rational friends acting like they had lost all kind of rational thought. Cye had been so preoccupied with his current predicament that he hadn't noticed he had walked all the way from the kitchen to the stair case at the front of Mia's mansion. Suddenly, as though gravity had gained more force upon his body, Cye's legs buckled and he landed on the lower most step of the stairs. It was here that he would wait for his two other fellow ronins to come back from searching the woods. Something just didn't feel right to Cye, but then again, he was always somewhat in tune with the feelings of others around him.

In the nearby living room, Rowen and Sage slept in separate chairs buried under several blankets each. They had eaten the food Cye had prepared earlier quickly and had proceeded to jump off of any tall piece of furniture they could find and run throughout the house trying to break the sound barrier with their screams. After which they tried to see if they could break the speed barrier as well. Cye had been glad that they hadn't remembered that they could use their armor to accomplish that task and when they had spent a couple of hours doing that, they had immediately felt the lure of sleep as the sleep they had gotten the night before wasn't really as restful as one would like.

----Elsewhere----

Kento was seriously worried about Sage and Rowen. It was this feeling of worry that drove him to look under every stone he came across, literally, for any sign of foul play be it a Dynasty soldier or an evil demon. He was desperate to find anything......something... "Ahh, Ryo! There's nothing here! This is terrible, why can't I find those creeps when... when I need to?" Kento yelled out as he kicked a nearby tree. The frustration of their situation finally reaching him.

Following close behind his friend, Ryo walked up to Kento and placed a firm hand upon his friend's shoulder. "I know what you mean man, but..." he hesitated a bit not wanting to admit it to himself either, "But we have to think about the possibility that the stress of all that we've been through has finally gotten to those two and that they may have lost it." Ryo tried to sound comforting but he wasn't good at this type of stuff.

Kento looked back at the ronin of fire and smiled slightly as he questioned the other, "So that's the best you came up with huh?"

The two teens had been searching the grounds around the mansion for a good three to four hours with no luck. There was no sign of anything. Feeling a bit defeated, the both of them decided to head back to the mansion to tell Cye of the bad news and figure out what to do next.

----Back at the mansion----

Cye was minutes away from falling asleep himself, his head kept drifting to a tilt every now and again. He was all too ready to allow himself to slip into a nice comforting dream where he'd be swimming in a vast ocean with various sea life dispersed throughout said ocean and he'd have all the time in the world to swim and stare at the sites with his sea friends. That is until the calm state of the house was cut with a shrill cry.

"No!, Get the hell away from me!!!" Rowen cried out as he began to thrash about where he slept.

'I know that voice!' Cye thought to himself. "Oh no, Rowen!" he cried as he jumped to his feet rushing to his friend's side to see what the problem was. When Cye entered the room that Rowen and Sage had been sleeping in, he froze as he never thought he'd see anything as horrendous as he was now viewing.

Rowen had awakened and was now clawing at his arms and neck with his fingers coming seriously close to drawing blood in some spots as he complained to Cye to get rid of the shadows that were climbing up his legs, chest, and arms all the while yelling for them to leave him alone.

Sage on the other hand had been merely sitting up in the chair he was in rocking back and forth as he cradled his head in his hands.

Cye could barely hear anything other than Rowen's terrified screams but in between those screams when the blue haired teen needed to regain his breath, the warrior of the water could faintly hear Sage murmuring to himself, "Stop it, stop it, stop it...Not again, not again." It hadn't even occurred to him that the two had lost their childhood demeanor from earlier and seemed to be back to normal or at least closer. He really didn't know what to do, the whole scene was quite disturbing for him. One thing was for sure, he needed to restrain Rowen or else the warrior of the sky would slice open a vein or something more serious with his repeated scratching.

What concerned Cye even more was what was attacking his friend and why couldn't he see it? Taking a few steps closer to his target, Cye barely caught sight of the severe panicked expression on Rowen's face before he was assaulted with a gut wrenching kick to the stomach. Cye's eyes widened before watering as he fell like a rock, doubling over in pain on the floor besides Rowen. The kick the blue haired teen had dealt him had left him gasping for air, but at the same time wanting to push all the air out of his lungs as the muscles contracted violently in his stomach leaving him hyperventilating somewhat.

"Get off!!!" Rowen yelled louder. With each passing minute he could feel the shadowy creatures digging into his skin with their claws not aware that they were only in his mind and he was doing all the damage himself as he tried to remove the devilish things. The wispy appearance the creatures had did nothing to make Rowen feel any better as he felt like he was being sucked into their darkness and was now gasping more and more for air. He had been alternating between yelling, trying to pull the shadows off, and flailing his arms and legs in an attempt to get them off.

For the most part, he was all out panicking and Cye knew that if he didn't at least get Rowen restrained, he could do a lot of self damage. Sage didn't seem to need his attention at the moment; not that he could give it to him, he had more important things to worry about. When the initial shock of being kicked in the stomach had worn off and some of the pain had left him, Cye rolled away from his friend to put a little distance between the two of them. Clutching his gut with his left arm, Cye reached out with his right hand to grasp the nearby coffee table in an effort to stand up. In a sudden rush of adrenaline and emotions, Cye rushed Rowen for all he was worth. Forgetting about the pain the sudden movement had caused to his already aching muscles, Cye tackled Rowen in a type of bear hug and held on for dear life.

----Outside the mansion----

Ryo and Kento had been walking back to the mansion side by side in silence, not knowing what to say. They couldn't believe that Rowen or Sage could possibly lose it when they've all come this far in their lives.

Stepping up to the front door to the mansion, Ryo placed a hand on the door knob and turned it feeling as frustrated as ever that they didn't find anything when suddenly a loud crash of glass and Sage's desperate pleas for someone or something to 'Stop it!' assaulted his senses. One look told him that Kento had heard it too and both rushed into the house suspecting some type of Dynasty attack.

It was somewhat pointless to think that anyone from the Dynasty would be attacking them or trying anything, because once they had defeated Talpa, everything just stopped and the only ones that did try anything were minimal Dynasty flunkies that could be scared away just as easily as saying 'Boo!' But anything was possible.

As they reached the living room, they found Cye sprawled on the floor gripping onto Rowen as the other screamed and flailed about leaving a few broken vases all around them. Cye was bleeding from the various cuts he had received while wrestling with Rowen on the floor. Sage was screaming louder than before at no one in particular to 'Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!' All while clutching his head as though he were in an extreme amount of pain. The tears falling from his normally calm blue eyes reinforced the point even more so.

Ryo was just as shocked as he could be. He was about to ask what had happened when Kento interrupted him on his way to aid Cye on the ground.

"Hey Cye! What the heck is going on around here? What did you do to Rowen and what's wrong with Sage??!" Kento piped up trying to carry his voice over Sage's and Rowen's frantic yells.

Cye was getting beyond angry at this point. He had been rolling around on the ground with Rowen for a good five to ten minutes amongst shards of broken glass and to be questioned what he had done to Rowen or any of his friends was drawing him closer to wanting to punch someone. Well, that and the pounding migraine that had been gaining momentum in his head.

"Just get him off of me!! He was trying to hurt himself so I had to restrain him!" Cye yelled at Kento who now had the very energetic, blue haired boy in a binding hold.

Kento was surprised at the amount of strength Rowen had for his size, 'Maybe it's just that he's a crazed loony right now...' he thought to himself. At the moment, said warrior of the Earth had his arms locked around Rowen's arms and neck preventing the smaller ronin from going anywhere. He had no idea what to do; all he could do was wait with Strata in hand for someone with some sense to tell him what to do.

While Kento was struggling with Rowen, Ryo had been helping Cye up from the living room floor.

Cye winced slightly as he was aided in his efforts to stand, blood slowly trickled down his temple. The deep red liquid had been seeping into his shirt just below his neck and chin where the blood had dribbled down and accumulated. 'Oh just great! I've got a gash on my head. That's gonna be one hell of a headache to deal with later.' Cye mused oblivious to the pounding that was already occurring in his head. Looking over, he had caught sight of Ryo attempting to talk with Sage. Now that they had Rowen somewhat contained, it was a perfect opportunity to find out what was bugging the blond. Taking a step forward, he noticed the room seemed to be spinning or rather he was losing his sense of balance and fell into a nearby chair.

Noticing Cye's uneven movements, Ryo extended his arm in a halting fashion ordering Cye to stay where he was. "Cye, just sit down, we'll take it from here." Ryo ordered. He had caught a glimpse of Cye nasty little head injury and was worried that he might have some type of concussion. It was apparent that Cye's little episode with Rowen was no easy task and this concerned him somewhat.

Slumping down into the chair he had collapsed into, Cye closed his eyes and pulled a hand up over his eyes to block out the blinding light of the lamps in the room while rubbing both of his temples with his thumb and forefinger.

Rowen had given up screaming as he had been straining his voice to no end with no effect. Instead, he just settled for growling and trying once again to escape his captor's hold. But it was no use, Kento was still stronger than him; they didn't call him the warrior of strength for nothing. Suddenly, the imaginary creatures Rowen had been fighting with so desperately earlier seemed to be falling away, one by one from his body. And with each shadow that fell away from his body, Rowen seemed to grow a little more weaker as he was beginning to slump in Kento's arms.

Not knowing what else to do and not willing to strain his arms by holding his friend up rather than just restraining the confused boy, he opted to slide to the floor with a now sobbing Rowen. He released his hold on his friend slightly and allowed Rowen to curl up into the fetal position he was now in.

Hugging his legs to his chest, Rowen closed his eyes and softly cried, "Make them go away....Keep them away from me.......please..."

Kento responded to the other's pleas, "Huh? Keep what away?"

Rowen just started to shake even more with Kento's lack of understanding to his situation

Sighing, Kento placed an unsteady hand on his friend's arm and comforted, "Don't worry buddy, I wont let anything hurt you again." Whatever he had said had done the trick as the troubled youth was apparently sleeping now or rather had passed out from exerting himself so much. At this point, Kento began to see all of the scratch marks covering Rowen's arms and neck. Reaching out his other hand in curiosity, Kento stopped just short of a rather deep scratch along one of Rowen's upper arms. It was clear that the deep pink skin was ready to open and allow the crimson liquid underneath free passage given one false move. Suddenly a heart wrenching scream caught his attention; raising his head, Kento wiped the sweat from his brow, adjusting his gaze to see what had interrupted him.

Sage really wasn't aware of what was going on around him. All he could see through his tears was an endless darkness that seemed to be edging its way into his very soul. All around him, he could hear voices taunting him with every thought and emotion he expressed. He couldn't take it anymore... 'Why couldn't they just leave him alone? Why was it so dark? And who were they??' The blond let his mind wonder over and over. He was seriously getting scared. Normally he could think a situation through and felt confident enough to stand his ground and defend himself when the time came. But now, he was losing what little of his sanity he could grasp on to. He couldn't feel or see the sources of any of the voices that came inches away from his ears, in front of him, or behind him; it was incredibly unsettling to say the least. Feeling phantom hands grabbing at his shoulders, he screamed out, sliding his palms over his ears trying to block out the eerie voices. 'I have to get away! What are you?!?' Sage feared as he felt more hands grabbing at him thinking that the owners of the creepy voices had finally come to make good on their threats and taunts.

'You're ours boy!' a sickly man's voice called out to light warrior.

Another screamed, 'Why don't you just kill yourself, then I wouldn't have to work so hard..........' A wave of cold air engulfed the teen as he could literally feel the voice deepening or was it his lungs slowing, as the same voice only more menacing spoke mere inches away from behind his left ear, '.....at ripping that juicy heart out of your chest!'

Ryo was getting worried with each passing minute. He had tried shaking Sage by the other's shoulders only to be completely ignored by his close friend. Something else that had unsettled him was the fact that Sage's normally vibrant azure eyes were glazed over and a look of utter terror blanketed the boy's face. Trying again, desperate to get Sage's attention, Ryo stepped in front of the sitting teen and firmly grasped the figure in front of him as he yelled out in frustration, "Arrgh, come on Sage tell me what's going on! Answer me!" Releasing one of his shoulders, the fire ronin was about to strike some realization in his friend when a sturdy yet soft hand held his own back. Surprised, Ryo turned to face the one that stopped him so abruptly.

"That's not going to help matters any Ryo." Cye breathed out still tired, unaware of the tears he too was crying.

Taking one look at his friend, Ryo relaxed slightly before replying, "I know Cye, I just... I just don't know what to do! He isn't responding to me and I can tell that something has him scared to death."

Cye sighed deeply feeling utterly helpless. "Ryo, we have to call someone. This isn't normal behavior a-and..." Cye spoke lowering his head allowing his auburn bangs to cover his eyes as he hesitated, unsure if he should continue.

"And what Cye?" Ryo spoke up snapping Cye out of his thoughts.

"And I haven't felt any evil presence or any kind of dark magic at work here! We have to face the possibility that maybe... that maybe Rowen and Sage have seriously gone crazy." Cye grumbled.

Kento stared at Cye in complete shock; he couldn't believe that Cye of all people was ready to give up on his friends like that. Of course he had been thinking the same thing for quite some time, to hear it pronounced aloud still stung.

Ryo was about to mount another argument against Cye's reasoning when he was cut off.

Turning his head to face Kento, Cye called out to the other to look at the list of numbers near the phone and dial the number for the local hospital. He just knew what was going to happen once his two friends were examined by actual doctors. His mind reeled over the possibilities as he watched Kento leave the room as instructed. In the background he could hear Ryo's desperate attempts to get Sage to acknowledge his presence. 'What have I done?' Cye could feel his conscious weighing down on him. 'Those blasted doctors have no idea what we have been through, what the Ronin Warriors have been through. My god! What if there is an evil presence behind all of this? I'm sending my friends to a bloody nut house. What's wrong with me? Ryo and Kento haven't given up on the idea... why is it so easy for me to accept it?' Cye continued to argue within his own mind.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**AN:** Wow, that took a lot out of me. Normally I can type very expressively and write like that too, but for some reason I can't bring myself too with this story. (Nervous laughter) bet you couldn't tell with how many times I repeated so many of the same words over and over and over again. I think I'll wait till I get a bit more reviews to see if I should continue this fic. HA! I know I've been so stressed lately..... I mean the other day I had been watching the last episode again of the Ronin Warriors cartoon and when the scene came up in which the guys were all in there jackets and I stared at the letters on them, I couldn't for at least a few minutes understand why Kento, Cye, and Rowen had the letters 'S' and 'T' on them. But then I remembered....teeheehee, I feel stupid....don't even get me started on the idea that I don't even think they were wearing the jackets before they put on their armor for the last time but it made for a cute ending. Okay okay, I do hope you all have enjoyed this update and as always, please review and tell me what you think or I might just let this fic blow away with the wind.


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